Chapter Thirty-Eight
The Interlude [Liam]
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"I can't believe you," she huffed. She seemed to be already tired. I supposed that my legs were a helluva lot longer than hers but I wasn't going to slow down. I wanted to get out of here. To go somewhere private where she would stay with me. For a long time.
What was she talking about? Oh yeah, the handcuffs. I held back a smile and argued, "I didn't really think. For crying out loud, Kayli, it's your fault as much as mine!"
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me! How is it my fault at all?"
"You told me to arrest you!" Which had been a lot of fun, a small piece of payback for driving me insane, filling my mind of her completely when I couldn't even talk to her. Or touch her. I wanted to run faster.
"And you're the idiot who locked the other manacle around your wrist!"
"I wouldn't have even brought out the handcuffs if you hadn't told me to!"
"You could've thought, just for a second. 'Hmm, I wonder if I should handcuff myself to Kayli'," she spoke in a deep voice in an attempt to sound like me. I sounded so much sexier than that. "'Oh, wait a minute, I don't have the key and linking myself to her would be an utterly foolish, daft, idiotic, moronic thing to do'."
Talking about daft, idiotic and moronic, who was the fool who had walked right into a trap?
"You KNOW I don't think straight around you. No, allow me to correct that; I don't think of anything BUT you. Do you know what this past week was like?" Even thinking about it made me shudder. There was no way I'd let her go off with Fletch again, or anyone. I don't even think I could handle her going to school, or university next year. I wanted her near me. I had to know that she was safe. I wanted her home now!
I ran faster, noticing that the chain between the cuffs became taut for a moment before she caught up.
"I went through the same thing!" she protested.
I wrenched around the corner, too angry to speak. If she had gone through the same thing then she wouldn't have stayed away. I had been close to running around on the streets, hoping that I'd bump into her.
The chain jerked and I looked back to see that she had slowed. I didn't want to scare her with my rage, not when she'd been away for so long, so I drew any emotion out of my voice. "Don't lag behind Kayli."
I reached the door, disconnected the alarm and shoved it open. We were out. Next stop, home.
"Liam, you know I had to go," she said suddenly, her voice quiet. "I couldn't just laze around in your arms while my friends were in trouble, as much as I wanted to!"
Her words hurt. Did she still not trust me? She trusted my brother, Fletch, probably even Luke but she couldn't trust ME?
"You could have asked me to help. You could have asked me to be by our side."
"But-But you... I couldn't have asked you to break the law... I thought... You're an officer, a LASER agent, someone who ensures the rules are followed. You wouldn't even let me skip school."
She climbed into the car first, thankfully giving me time to calm myself down. Of course I hadn't let her skip school. I had wanted her to enjoy being there and maybe consider joining the agency with me. I drove out onto the road. Driving always helped me to relax.
"Liam, you can't drive with one hand," she said, tugging on the handcuff. "And I don't particularly want you pulling my hand around as you steer and change gears."
